Too bad the checklist notes weren't delivered with the cars. That would be cool to have today.

I assume that people like zspert and Pierre are the Shop Reps? Who kept the Checklist documents? 1997 was well in to the copier and computer age. Any chance they're out there in copies or image form?

I'm way over on the engine rebuilding end of the interest spectrum. It still seems unclear who managed the rebuilding of them. Did the Shop Reps just handle the shipping and receiving of engines to AER? Did they come back fully assembled, at least with heads, timing cover, fuel pump, etc., installed and torqued? Or did they come back in pieces and were reassembled at the Shop?

Best to collect this information now, especailly in the States. Attempts are being made to create a new history, erasing the old. Somebody will realize what the Wayback Machine holds. It might not last.

6 hours ago, SpeedRoo said:

If Nissan says it's Cad plated then I believe them. Put on your reading glasses RAE and check what they wrote in an official document. All detailed in the Nissan Motor Corporation U.S.A. 240Z Restoration Program Quality Control Checklist. Now I know RAE will come back and say Nissan never used Cad but Gold Zinced the parts on the 240Z, but that may have been the case in Japan. This was a USA program and they sourced services locally in California. Cad plating was not banned from automobiles and parts in California until 2003.

About 35 years ago, I was in the process of restoring a 240Z, as well as parting out another for spares. I took an assorted group of 10 or 15 nuts, bolts, washers and couple small parts off the Z's to our Materials Lab. "Our" being Honeywell Space and Strategic Systems Lab. A Materials Lab with men and equipment that supported putting men on the moon and probes on other planets. 

I ask the guys to tell me what was used for plating and corrosion protection, as I intended to have them re-plated.

After testing them, they told me they were Cad. plated and given a yellow chromate conversion bath- and to be sure to wear a mask if I used a wire wheel ((bench grinder)  to clean them up. Cadmium is very toxic and you don't want to breath any in.

Given that the OEM fasteners on a now 50+ year old 240Z, treated with a little penetrating oil will break free and unscrew, without twisting off, is witness to me of Cadmiums use.  That doesn’t happen with zinc plated fasteners in automotive use. In addition to Cad. plating having three to four times the durability of Zinc, Cadmium offers increased lubricity, so threaded fasteners release and unscrew. 

If you are not absolutely certain - best advice is to treat them as having Cadmium Platting..and be careful how you handle and clean them up. 

In Japan the use of Cadmium electroplating in auto manufacturing was officially banned in 1969. Before that it wasn't widely used on higher-tensile fasteners due to the phenomenon of Hydrogen embrittlement.

Nissan (Japan's) own documentation for the S30-series Z's componentry - according to and conforming with N.E.S. (Nissan Engineering Standard) - states that most of the non-Chrome electroplated parts were Zinc ( 亜鉛 ) 'Aen' galvanized, with various passivated finishes.

Here's just one example page of the quoted N.E.S. finishes for fasteners from the C-236 Nissan parts catalogue for the S30, HS30 and PS30 models:

Heading translates as:

'Indication of washer-assembled hex bolts, washer-mounted machine screws and their surface treatments.
The part numbers of hexagon bolts and machine screws are followed by a ' - ' and the characteristic in the table below.
Washer-assembled hex bolts, small screws and their surface treatments'.

I have roughly outlined the relevant example surface treatments in red. They read, from the top:

NO SURFACE TREATMENT
GALVANIZED
BLACK GALVANIZED
CHROME PLATED

...and this pattern is repeated for each sub-classification of fastener down the page.

The Japanese for 'Zinc plated'/'Galvanized' is 亜鉛メッキ ('Aen Mekki').

1 hour ago, Carl Beck said:

"Our" being Honeywell Space and Strategic Systems Lab. A Materials Lab with men and equipment that supported putting men on the moon and probes on other planets. 

You mean...rocket science?

On 8/14/2025 at 8:17 AM, HS30-H said:

The Japanese caption specifically says powder coat, but that could easily have been a miscommunication (or, heaven help us, an assumption...) between reporter and the people at Pierres. I would think it much more likely that they were in fact painted, as per the original factory finish.

@Patcon Having said that, I just looked through the excellently-researched 'Vintage Z Restoration Program Historical Compendium' put together by Chris Wenzel @26th-Z and he too specifically quotes powder coating as having been used.

From the Compendium: "Nissan literature talks briefly about updating some aspects of the 240Z. A 3-row radiator was used and the tire specification was updated. In an effort to provide more durability to suspension components they were powder coated "to factory colors" so as to "ensure that you will enjoy your 240Z's performance for years to come"."

Obviously it's a quote from NMC USA's VZ Program sales literature, so I don't know if that was the reality or not, but the fact that the independent Japanese journalist who visited Pierre'Z in person reported the same thing might suggest something. Of course he could simply have been quoting the literature, I don't know.

I've always found powder coating to be much too thick on such parts, and there's always an issue where the powder coating transitions to a wear/bearing/mounting surface. I've seen it peel away in those places, so I much prefer paint (as per original manufacturing). Inspection of a few VZ Program cars would probably settle the question as to what was actually applied on them.

A little late jumping into this conversation. I have been "out of contact" on holiday which I do every so often going internet dark for a few days in my effort to get away from it all. Often, I travel to Europe but I just returned from several days in coastal Maine and that northern wilderness. We were hiking and boating. Reading up on this discussion, I thought I would chime in on some of the issues mentioned.

Nissan contracted with four private restoration shops during the Vintage Z program. Pierre Z in Hawthorn, California completed by far the most restorations, however Classic Datsun Motorsports of Vista, California, Datsun Ally of Signal Hill, and Old Car Service of Huntington Beach were also involved. Datsun Ally and Classic Datsun Motorsports prepared two cars each. I don't know how many Old Car Service prepared.

Engines were rebuilt and provided by AER Manufacturing in Arington, Texas as transmissions came from Williams Technology of Summerville, South Carolina. Pierre Z rebuilt the units for the first restoration only as Nissan contracted thereon. They were assembled units, crate shipped, including everything except carburetors, generators, cooling fan and hoses, and exhaust manifold to the best of my knowledge. Part management was coordinated through Pete Evanow of Nissan N.A. and there were documents related to car assessment, part orders, and quality control however these were internal project documents related to the management of the project cars and not released with any of the cars. I actually have part order documents for cars that were never restored.

Concerning CAD plating: The yellow / gold coloring that we associate with "CAD" is a chromate conversion coating applied over the plated metal, yielding the familiar gold color. A similar appearance can be achieved with a similar chromate conversion over silver zinc which is far less toxic and not easily discernible from a cadmium base electroplate. Cadmium electroplating on its own is not yellow. I believe that what we see on cars today is yellow chromate zinc. True cadmium electroplating is not easily found or inexpensive. We all seem to call it "CAD" but that's probably a term we use for the color and not AS 9100 certified or ASTM A165, SAE AMS 2400 specification.

Finally, Nissan N.A. didn't just decide to restore a bunch of 240Zs; they schemed up an ad campaign to keep the Z legend in North America alive while Nissan discontinued their current model Z with only the promise to deliver a new design some time in the future. The goal was not to create 'restorations' but deliver complete, running examples of the original car with 12,000 mile warranties. They had to rely on private repair businesses to accomplish their goal with a parts inventory that could not sustain the project. But they pulled it off! Cudos to the businesses and people who contributed to the effort. The cars are quite valuable now, and it is always exciting to see one because the story behind it is one of the best automotive sales campaign stories. Especially after the blunder of dropping the Datsun brand, I opine.

So, I did the research project / compendium in 2005. I have a huge digital file of stuff as well as a fairly good library of literature. I have a vhs video that Pierre gave me in 200? that has Mr. K's visit during the restoration program. I don't have any printed , bound copies at the moment. I hear some interest for copies of stuff I have. I'm going to get some copies of the compendium made. Stay tuned.

13 hours ago, 26th-Z said:

Concerning CAD plating: The yellow / gold coloring that we associate with "CAD" is a chromate conversion coating applied over the plated metal, yielding the familiar gold color. A similar appearance can be achieved with a similar chromate conversion over silver zinc which is far less toxic and not easily discernible from a cadmium base electroplate. Cadmium electroplating on its own is not yellow. I believe that what we see on cars today is yellow chromate zinc. True cadmium electroplating is not easily found or inexpensive. We all seem to call it "CAD" but that's probably a term we use for the color and not AS 9100 certified or ASTM A165, SAE AMS 2400 specification.

Nissan themselves told us - it's LITERALLY written in their technical literature for 'our' cars - that the electroplated finish on the non-chrome components was Zinc, either 'clear' or with other passivated top finishes. Cadmium plating was already banned for commercial automotive use in Japan before 'our' cars were made, so - naturally - there's no mention of Cadmium in the technical literature.

People have talked about 'Cad' plating on cars for decades - especially in North America - and it simply became part of the vernacular. Just like 'Mag' wheels that weren't actually Magnesium anymore. Old habits die hard.

Did the VZ Program cars receive actual Cadmium plating on specified components when they were rebuilt, or was that too an example of vernacular use? If they did receive Cadmium plated components then we can chalk it up as yet another non-original finish on cars which were never claimed to be such. I will continue to call out people who cite processes and specifications on the VZ Program cars as somehow being evidence of what Nissan and its various suppliers did when the cars were originally made.

On 8/14/2025 at 11:19 PM, Carl Beck said:

Given that the OEM fasteners on a now 50+ year old 240Z, treated with a little penetrating oil will break free and unscrew, without twisting off, is witness to me of Cadmiums use.  That doesn’t happen with zinc plated fasteners in automotive use. In addition to Cad. plating having three to four times the durability of Zinc, Cadmium offers increased lubricity, so threaded fasteners release and unscrew. 

Hardly logical, let alone scientific. I've had to deal with 50+ year old fasteners on these cars too, and the single biggest factor involved is the environment that the 50+ year old fastener lived in during its use. Fasteners on a car that spent those 50+ years in southern California may well be happy to cooperate, but a fastener that has spent the same period in regularly cold, wet and often salty conditions will look - and behave - very differently. Pretty much any electroplating with a sacrificial coating will succumb under such conditions.

On 8/14/2025 at 11:19 PM, Carl Beck said:

About 35 years ago, I was in the process of restoring a 240Z, as well as parting out another for spares. I took an assorted group of 10 or 15 nuts, bolts, washers and couple small parts off the Z's to our Materials Lab. "Our" being Honeywell Space and Strategic Systems Lab. A Materials Lab with men and equipment that supported putting men on the moon and probes on other planets. 

On 8/14/2025 at 11:19 PM, Carl Beck said:

After testing them, they told me they were Cad. plated and given a yellow chromate conversion bath...

I'm sure Honeywell Space and Strategic Systems should rightly command our respect, but far from "putting men on the moon and probes on other planets" we are dealing with a question that can be answered simply by looking at the technical literature that the manufacturer published when the cars were made.

To coin a phrase, that's not rocket science.

The science shows the reality and the literature represents the image of desired reality.

You'd have to know more about the methods used by the Honeywell people to know why they said cadmium was present. Maybe the parts were old stock hardware, produced before the cadmium ban.

Old hardware is still out there if somebody wants to pay or knows some insiders at a good lab. Without more information it's just more conjecture.

One of many web sites from one of many typical analytical labs, which could do that type of analysis.

Triclinic Labs, LLC.

Leaders in Solid-State Development and Materials Characterization

30 minutes ago, Zed Head said:

The science shows the reality and the literature represents the image of desired reality.

What science are you referring to? The "science" in Carl's story is of the 'Trust Me Bro' variety at this point.

32 minutes ago, Zed Head said:

You'd have to know more about the methods used by the Honeywell people to know why they said cadmium was present. Maybe the parts were old stock hardware, produced before the cadmium ban.

'Maybe' doing a lot of heavy lifting there. There can be any number of maybes once we decide to take an anecdote as empirical truth over the written evidence of a manufacturer.

36 minutes ago, Zed Head said:

Without more information it's just more conjecture.

The data in the Nissan literature isn't conjecture, nor is the Japanese ban on Cadmium use in commercial automotive manufacturing.

My money's on the likelihood that people got used to calling yellow gold coatings on auto parts 'Cad plating' and it simply stuck. A habit. Understandable, and not without precedent.
Contortions performed to justify it - even to make it somehow true - will tie us all up in knots.

50 minutes ago, Zed Head said:

Old hardware is still out there if somebody wants to pay or knows some insiders at a good lab.

ISWYDT 😉

1 hour ago, Zed Head said:

You'd have to know more about the methods used by the Honeywell people to know why they said cadmium was present.

We'd also need to know more about the people Carl Beck knew at Honeywell.

I'd write more if I was here to argue. But I'm just here to learn more.

5 minutes ago, HS30-H said:

Contortions performed to justify it - even to make it somehow true - will tie us all up in knots.

I really hope that you were being self-referential here, in an attempt at humor.

48 minutes ago, HS30-H said:

Japanese ban on Cadmium use in commercial automotive manufacturing.

Do you have a reference regarding the ban, and its details? I cannot find anything on the internet besides a single statement that Boeing developed new plating methods because of the ban in Japan, in 1969. But the source did not have a citation. A typical industrial chemical ban has a phaseout period. Large corporations have great influence on regulations.

https://www.sifcoasc.com/cadmium-replacements

"Boeing began their research into cadmium alternatives in the early 1970’s as a response to Japan’s ban of the use of cadmium in 1969."

There is quite a bit out there about Itai-itai disease though. Interesting digression.

https://www.int-res.com/articles/esep2012/12/e012p099.pdf

Role of experts and public participation in pollution

control: the case of Itai-itai disease in Japan1

Masanori Kaji

Graduate School of Decision Science and Technology, Group of History of Science and Technology,

Tokyo Institute of Technology, W9-79, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8552, Japan

In Nissan's 240Z Restoration Program Quality Control Checklist they specifically call out "Cad plating", it was commonly used in California to recondition automobile parts and fasteners at the time. It's banned there now but available in other states. I use it for replating all my parts on Aston Martin restorations. They also mention "Zinc Chromate Tank Slushing" for the fuel tank, so they obviously knew the difference between Cad and Zinc processes.

Additionally Nissan mention "Paint semi-gloss black" for suspension components. If you look closely at the photos of the Vintage Z that have been on BAT it is easy to discern between Cad and Zinc, Paint and powder coat.